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Original gangsters

Alabama 3 did the theme tune for The Sopranos, and their blend of rock, dance and country is an offer you can’t refuse

Garth Cartwright

December 1 2013, 12:01am, The Sunday Times

Go with the flow: Nick Reynolds, far right, and Rob Spragg, second from right, with Alabama 3 (Jo Wakenshaw)

Alabama 3 are discussing dead gangsters, both real and fictional. This year the Brixton band lost James Gandolfini, the American actor who played the mafia boss Tony Soprano, and Bruce Reynolds, the British brains behind the Great Train Robbery. The Gandolfini connection comes via Alabama 3 providing the theme tune to The Sopranos, while the Reynolds connection is that Bruce’s only son, Nick, is a member of the band. “It is a strange coincidence,” Nick Reynolds admits, “and not one I’m given to dwelling on. I think my father chose crime because he grew up on Second World War stories of action and heroism, and was looking for excitement. There was nothing thuggish about him. He was an intelligent man, well read, debonair. But he…

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